


D&D Night in Abel Township

by runners345ready



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: D&D is played, Gen, pretty angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-31
Updated: 2016-08-31
Packaged: 2018-08-12 03:14:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7918282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/runners345ready/pseuds/runners345ready
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the lines between a fantasy, role-playing game come to to the horribly reality of their life, Five is taken back in time. What's supposed to be a game, turns into a delve into a past Five doesn't want to contemplate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	D&D Night in Abel Township

**Author's Note:**

> This I already posted on Tumblr but have decided to bring it here as well. The request and idea came from Day Dreamer Five wanting a fic expanding on on the quote from S3M27: “Uh, we were up to that bit with that waterfall that shows you random but ominous flashbacks from everyone’s childhood. Yours was really creepy, wasn’t it, Five?” So here's D&D in Abel featuring Maxine as DM and all the other nerds (including Janine).

“Alright, everyone needs to roll initiative.” Maxine is scribbling down on her notes. It barely looks like she’s paying attention to the game half the time, but she’s really good at keeping up with it.

“Against the waterfall?” Eugene questions as the clatter of dice comes from around the table.

“Are we going to fight the waterfall?” Jack asks excitedly. “I wanna fight the waterfall!”

“We are not fight the waterfall! Are we Maxine?” Sam asks.

“No, I just need to determine what order to go in,” She answers half-distracted by her papers. She takes down the player order from the dice.

“Alright, so our order is Jacklyn, Seakul Wolfsbane, Elendithas, Janella Dawntracker, and Demon-hunter Five.” Maxine catalogues all this down and gets started.

“So Jacklyn, you are the first one to draw near to the waterfall. You notice that even though the waterfall is filling it constantly, the pool it lands in does not grow any larger and there does not appear to be any outlet, rivers or streams. Also, despite the disturbance of the waterfall, no ripples meet the shore.”

“Oh, mysterious. I’ll approach the pool and step into the water.” Jack offers.

“Don’t you want to check the area first, make certain this isn’t a trap?” Janine sounds almost indignant at the lack of caution.

“And let the rest of you lot catch up first? No thank you, Ms. Dawntracker.” Jack leans back precariously in his folding chair and looks at Maxine.

“Alright, so when Jacklyn steps into the pool, the waterfall begins to glow and Jacklyn is instantly hypnotized by a light that moves like no other, floating around the waterfall etherly. Sometimes falling with the water, other times floating up like bubbles, sometimes bobbing like a cork in a pond.”

There’s some mutters around the table, people speculating and Maxine waits for it to die down.

“Finally the light meaders into the middle of the falls and you see an image of young Jacklyn, sitting on the floor playing her first chords on her lute. A love of music being born.”

“Cool, the waterfall see the past. Does it also show the future?” Sam is practically bouncing in his seat.

“You wait your turn Seakul! It’s Jacklyn’s turn.” Jack snaps across the card table.

“You mastered many musical instrument through your life, mostly to play music that could not possibly be played on any of those instruments.” Maxine does pretty well to mask the annoyance in her voice. “And it’s not an image, but you do get the sensation that this talent with prove very important in the future. Life and death in fact.” Maxine pauses and lets the silence sit dramatically.

“Guess, I’d better brush up on my hunting horn!” Jack exclaims, clapping his hands together and rubbing them evilly.

“God help me,” Eugene says in a long-suffering voice.

“I happen to know you love my horn playing,” Jack defends, swatting Eugene’s arm.

“No, I just have tolerated it so far,” Eugene quips.

“Oh, come on, Gene. You know you love me.” Jack manages to roll over in Jack’s lap in the small space.

“Knock it off you two. I think it’s my turn.” Sam leans forward on the table.

“Yes it is. So Seakul Wolfsbane, what will you do?” Maxine asks.

“Okay, so I’ll… Wait, did we all see the same thing Jacklyn did?”

“You all did see the light and the images, though you probably didn’t fully grasp what they mean on a personal level,” Maxine answers.

“Okay, so I’ll go in the water too.”

Maxine goes through all the characters, give well-designed stories about their pasts, as well as ominous predictions about the future. Janine even goes through it after questioning Maxine to the ends of the earth about the water.

“Alright Five, you’re up.” Sam grins at them.

“I think I’ll skip it.” Five answers and Sam’s face falls.

“What?” Sam whines. Five looks slightly taken aback.

“I don’t think my character would be particularly interested in seeing their past. Or hearing an enigmatic prophecy. Sorry Maxine.”

“Five, you do what you think Demon-hunter Five would do.”

“Come on Five, are you at least a little bit curious? Maxi came up with with some really great backstories. Don’t you want to hear yours?” Sam presses.

“Sam…” Maxine warns, but Five just rolls their eyes and sighs.

“Fine, I step into the weird memory pool too.”

“Okay,” Maxine starts. “As a Demon-hunter, obviously you have some demons from your past you are still fighting. In the waterfall’s light, you see the home you grew up in, but things aren’t quite right there. Members of the family are missing, usually presumed dead.” Everyone is too enraptured by Maxine weaving this story to notice Five stiffen slightly.

“It was always a struggle for Five, a constant fight against dark forces which threatened to consume all the light that was left in your home. As you got older, more and more of you was stripped away until little more was left but the will to fight. You lost many of those close to you.” The words, though as vague as they are, feel like a sliver of ice sliding into Five’s heart.

“The water wavers to show the house burning and besieged by monsters. And everyone was trapped inside, you remember. Thus you were sent on your quest to become a demon-hunter.”

The table shutters and everyone around it jumps about two feet in the air. A sort of side effect to the apocalypse.

“Sorry, I, um, kicked the table. My bad.” Five mutters.

“Are you okay, Five?” Sam questions.

Five is only containing the need to get up and run, body racked with shuttering muscles. Their face has drained of blood and mouth completely dry.

“Fine. I’m just excited.” Sam doesn’t look like he completely buys it, but Maxine very quickly turns the attention away from Five, knowing it won’t help them if everyone is looking.

“Alright, now everyone has seen what the waterfall had to show, will you continue towards the village. Remember, the goblin you’ve been tracking was last seen heading that way,” She entices.

“Yes, I think it would be wise to get back on that trail. That golbin did steal one of our maps.” Janine cuts in.

“A map which might, possibly lead to treasure. I say, yes, follow that trail.” Jack adds, brandishing a, somewhat magically, produced stick like a sword and flourishing it through the air.

“Alright, so you leave the waterfall behind. If you ever were to come this way again, you wouldn’t be able to find it. You can only find it once in a lifetime.”

For the rest of the session, Five is quiet. That’s normal, yes; but this is more than usual. A few words for their turn and that’s it. Five doesn’t even laugh at any of the typical Radio Boyfriend antics.

The description Maxine gave is vivid enough to imagine a scene. But Five sees actual faces in the place of vaguely described loved ones. People who left, people who died. And they can almost see that burning house, almost taste the smoke. And the zombies that surely overran it. The faces they probably would have know if they were there.

After the game is over and Maxine does a recap, Five leaves without saying a word. It’s reasonable. Curfew is fast approaching. Sam did try to stop Five, but they made their excuses, claimed to be fine. After making their escape, Five settles down in their cot. Rolling over the face the wall, Five closes their eyes and tries not to think about the people whose faces filled in Maxine’s story. But it’s no use, trying to forget. Five cries alone quietly for most of the night.


End file.
